Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment

Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

Two thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are female and over 65% of its poorest people are women and girls.

In the occupied Palestinian territories women activists, civil society coalitions and local authorities are working to end gender-based violence by strengthening women’s political voice, improving their access to justice and increasing opportunities for decent employment. The programme supports the formation of women leaders, strengthens government policy making and has launched an innovative mass media campaign to raise awareness on key gender inequalities.

We are supporting 13 joint programmes in this area with an allocation of almost US$90 million. These efforts contribute to achieving MDG 3, promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment adopting a more comprehensive approach that addresses issues of access to opportunities and the guarantee of rights. Some of these include improving legal systems to respect women’s rights, particularly those of marginalized indigenous and ethnic minority groups, strengthening participation in economic life and in decision making processes and reducing the incidence of violence that women suffer.